Monday, 7 November 2011

EastEnders' Yusef: the stare, the suits, the walk, the man. TERRIFYING

Yusef Khan, EastEnders' scary GP with quite a nice line in fancy grey suits, has become an expert at gazing into the middle distance with revenge on his mind and a look of sheer evil on his face.

Tv-ooh calls it his death stare, or, alternatively, his stare of death.

As Albert Square villains go, Yusef is up there with Nick Cotton or Dirty Den or even that strange old bird who tried to split up Martin and Sonia (she was called Sarah Barnes and she was a bit mental - true).

But unlike Nick or Den, Yusef appears to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, although his job as a doctor means he could do you a nice line in prescription meds if it all got too much. Nick would have to steal them; Den would have to ring Fat Harry.

Of course, Yusef's not without his charms - which in this case don't qualify for redeeming qualities, as he'd still kill you - but he knows how to turn on that charm at the drop of a hat, and won't think twice about coming armed with a big bunch of white roses and a pitiful expression.

But how anyone can fall for it now - given his track-record of lying, manipulating, and drugging - is beyond even the comprehension of tv-ooh.

Yusef and Amira

It's looking like Zainab won't fall for it now either - yeah, all that abuse and controlling would've done it. You'd hope so anyway.

But the ace up but Yusef's sleeve is that he's colluding with Amira who is the recently-returned estranged wife of Zainab's gay son Syed and possibly the only person desperate enough to need him.

Amira wants Syed, and Yusef wants Zainab - the two can help each other, and will possibly go to any lengths to get it.

This means there will be more of Yusef's stare of death - chilling it is, it is a thing to behold - and for that, tv-ooh admires Yusef, although we wouldn't like him as our GP nor would we look at him directly.

'Surgery floorboards'

Tv-ooh also likes him for the way he walks into rooms: slowly, carefully, menacingly, and as if he's avoiding land-mines underneath the floor.

Which, when you consider the fact that Doctor Legg could have had all sorts underneath those surgery floorboards in his day, is perfectly plausible.

Best of all, scary Yusef also triggered one of the best lines of soap responses ever, shortly after his first appearance in Zainab's kitchen, back in November 2010, and much to her surprise:

"You set me on fire!"

Here are his scenes from his very first episode so you can see for yourself: the stare, the suits, the walk, the man:

Fortunately for everyone though, the bloke who plays Yusef is called Ace Bhatti and he's actually quite nice in real life as shown in the interview below from This Morning.

Phew, that's alright then.

Although Ace Bhatti say he has "a lot of sympathy" for his character.

Oh.

Tv-ooh can't help but think Yusef's days on the Square may be numbered.